Back to Basics - How do Video and Photo Resolutions effect Output in PDR13? Is More Better?

AlS

Senior Member Location: South Africa Joined: Sep 23, 2014 18:07 Messages: 290 Offline

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Apr 23, 2015 06:36

As I newbie, I dived into PDR13's complex world of video editing with lot's of confusing and disappionting results assuming that higher quality always equals better results. I have learned that this is not a simple topic and some basic understanding of resolution before you start can make a big difference to expected results when viewed on my TV. YNOTFISH (Tony) and PIC from the PhD Forum have opened my eyes to a new world.

Maybe this is for Newbies but I could not find any reference to this question in manuals and PDR13 traing vids so I am looking for input from more experienced users. We all keep buying higher resolution cameras assuming we will see better results.

We all have different needs so I'll start my objectives and questions.

I simply want to get the best Output results from PDR13 when my project is viewed on my Sony full HD PAL large screen TV (I don't have 4k). I mix video with slides in PDR13

My Input is from a GoPro 3+ Black, which can shoot 4k, 2k, 1440p, 1080p and 720p HD at various frame rates and 12mp (4000 x 3000) images, a Sony video camera AVC HD 28M (1920x1080 50p), and my pics at 20Mp 4:3 and 15Mp 16:9.

My eyes were first opened when I looked at 20Mp pics vs 2Mp on my TV and saw that "more ain't better". Please see this link http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/24696.page#199400 post By PIC on 07/05/2014 15:57:53. PIC clearly illustrates why:

HD TVs (1080p = ~2.1MP) don't match the resolution of most DSLRs.
Rendering still images in video format results in unavoidable compression & picture quality loss.
Burning to DVD results in the greatest compression & PQ loss.

Look at the difference between a 20MP photo & a Full HD TV!

My PDR13 project settings are 16:9 50p (PAL) and I output H.264 MP4 25fps and create DVDs and BluRay DVDs.

I use PhotoDir 6 thru PDR13 and stand-alone to edit photos to add to the timeline.

It seems that all resizing software results in quality loss. I have tried Format Factory and Handbrake for video and PhD 6 for resizing pics before adding tp PDR13. All seem to give better results than when PDR13 re-sizes when rendering.

My limited experience and advice from Forum members tell me that:

PDR13 seems to produce best results when input file sizes are as close as possible to desired output.

Resizing video and pics before adding to your project give better results than mixed higher resolutions in the timeline.

I have found that mixed video frame rates (1080 25p and 1080 50p) don't affect results. I use 50p for better slo-mo results with a 25p rendered output. Even if you project is set to 25p a 50p clip on the timeline stays 50p until rendered. Higher frame rate = better slo-mo.

When you’re using mixed clips from different cameras, it’s best to produce to the lowest common denominator. e.g. if
your clips are a mixture of 1080, 960 & 720 – produce to 720. Trying to upscale 720p clips to 1080 doesn’t work very well & will give blurry images.

From the above it would seem that "size matters". Re-sizing may not be the best option - if you start with 4k (4096x2304} and resize to 1080 {1920x1080) results can be worse than starting with 1080. With photos re-sizing with PhotoShop will give better results than leaving it to PDR13.

My questions are:

Are my assumptions above correct?

If so will original camera settings give better results than re-sizing (1080 = 2.1Mp so would I get better results shooting 16:9 2Mp than 20Mp)?

Should we try to ensure Input=Output whenever possible before starting with PDR13?

I don't want to start a technical discussion on resolutions - just to find out what give the best results from PD13? There is another thread here http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/43453.page debating whether 4k input can give better rendered results than 1080 input to produce 1080. Confusing.

Thanks

Al

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Apr 24. 2015 02:16

Power Director 13&14 Ultimate, Photo Director 6, Audio Dir, Pwr2Go 10
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Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Apr 23, 2015 09:22

Quote:
From the above it would seem that "size matters". Re-sizing may not be the best option - if you start with 4k (4096x2304} and resize to 1080 {1920x1080) results can be worse than starting with 1080. With photos re-sizing with PhotoShop will give better results than leaving it to PDR13.

My questions are:

Are my assumptions above correct?

If so will original camera settings give better results than re-sizing (1080 = 2.1Mp so would I get better results shooting 16:9 2Mp than 20Mp)?

Should we try to ensure Input=Output whenever possible before starting with PDR13?

I don't want to start a technical discussion on resolutions - just to find out what give the best results from PD13? There is another thread here http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/43453.page debating whether 4k input can give better rendered results than 1080 input to produce 1080. Confusing.

Thanks

Al

Your assumptions are correct.

Original camera setting always give the best results. With qualifications.

If you go into Preferences > File you can set your input and output folder to the same folder. However until you Save Project As the first time your project may go anywhere.

Since your output is to go to a 1920x1080 TV set you should only use 1920x1080 video. You can start with 4K video and output 1920x1080 @ 16 Mbps or 24 Mbps.

If you do I recommend you work with the 4K video as a separate project, don't mix 4K with HD. It is a stress for PD 13 and your computer to work with 4K video files, so limit the stress. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Apr 25, 2015 17:02

Hi Al -

I'd like to put a little "rider" on the things I suggested about resizing higher resolution images prior to import into PowerDirector, & that is if you intend to use magic motion or any kind of zoom on those photos.

If you intend to zoom, don't resize before import.

Example: You start with a 20MP - say ~5184x3888 - photo which will end up in a 1920x1080 video production. Without resizing, you can apply significant zoom to that photo without causing PQ issues. That scenario would be fine because, even with zoom, there would still be 1920x1080px (as in the illustraion below):

If you resized that same photo prior to import - say to 2000x1500 (3MP) - then applied the same zoom you'd make a pixelated mess of that parrot's head if you then produced to 1920x1080

You may not notice it on a smaller viewer, but on a large screen HD TV you would!

I've tried to illustrate with these examples - https://youtu.be/5nE4R4H-RkE and https://youtu.be/fulFL_yZW3A

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 25. 2015 17:03

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AlS

Senior Member Location: South Africa Joined: Sep 23, 2014 18:07 Messages: 290 Offline

Apr 28, 2015 07:58

Thanks Tony - good point- I forgot about zooming/cropping in PDR13. I crop and resize PhD6 before adding pics to PDR13 but zoom needs higher res.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 28. 2015 08:04

Power Director 13&14 Ultimate, Photo Director 6, Audio Dir, Pwr2Go 10
Win 10 64, Intel MB DH87MC, Intel i5-4670 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 16Gb DDR3 1600, 128Gb SSD, 2x1Tb WDBlue 7200rpmSATA6, Intel 4600 GPU, Gigabyte G1 GTX960 4GB, LG BluRay Writer